2011 Château Thivin Côte de Brouilly - France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Côte de BrouillyCan a wine be too delicious? This sure seems to be. On opening it was exploding with red fruit and backed by minerals. Supple but not flabby, each sip brought me back for the next. Over the course of 3 hours it developed savory elements that added complexity and took the wine from merely delicious (a worthy goal) and added interesting to the mix. All fhis for $20? Sign me up for a whole lot more.

There behind the glass lies a real blade of grass. Be careful as you pass. Move along. Move along.

My previous wow moment with Thivin came after a couple of weeks with no wine while preparing for graduate comprehensive exams. I forget the vintage but it was a few years old so it had had a chance to mellow, yet was still plenty exuberant, which matched my exuberance of getting back to wine after the break. My prior and subsequent experiences were never that wow, but that one moment stuck with me and has cemented enough love that I'll be on the lookout again.